Developmental Psychology

The Developmental Psychology (DP) program at the CUNY Graduate Center is dedicated to offering a rigorous doctoral education to our students, while creating and maintaining a culture of inclusion, belonging, and equity. Of particular importance to the DP program is our capacity to recruit and retain diverse students and faculty, in line with the overall CUNY mission to be a vehicle for upward social mobility. Please note that while the Graduate Center still requires that applicants take the GREs and submit scores, in our view, these scores are limited in terms of their predictive value pertaining to success in Ph.D. programs and beyond. In light of this, our admissions policy is guided by a holistic review, also known as a comprehensive review, which considers a broad range of characteristics. This approach puts emphasis on broad indications of students’ potential for success in our program based on a range of criteria which includes academic performance to date, life experiences within and outside of school, persistence in and commitment to educational success, overcoming obstacles, indices of leadership, evidence of dedication, research experience, potential for contributing to research, and a match with our faculty’s research and expertise.

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Mission Statement/Training Philosophy

Developmental Psychology is an increasingly important, vibrant, and highly specialized field with its own unique epistemology, theory and methodology. With these tools, researchers and teachers of Developmental Psychology are the professionals most sought after in academia, research institutions, governmental and non-governmental policy institutions, media companies, health practices, educational institutions, and beyond. To meet these needs, Developmental Psychology at CUNY offers broad, innovative, rigorous, and critical inquiry into cognitive, social, emotional, cultural, motor, and language development occurring in diverse contexts and practices, including education, community organizations, public policy, communication, health, technology, education, and law, among other fields. Developmental Psychology faculty and students extend the boundaries of traditional psychology, often breaking new ground in the field, by addressing issues such as the effects of urban poverty, access to education, migration, parent-child relations, effects of societal conflict and change, children’s rights, work-place environments, new technologies, individual differences, disabilities, among other issues.